“Only You… Can Prevent The Endangerment Of The Spotted Owl”

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0722_040722_tvspottedowl.html
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008109742_spottedowl13m.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_Species_Act



When most people think about endangered species in the Pacific Northwest they think of salmon, (not that the general public even exists, according to Jacobson) not spotted owls. However, maybe that’s only my opinion because I’ve actually seen more spotted owls in the wild than I have seen salmon and experiences resonate more with individuals than just hearing about it through the mass media.



So is the spotted owl actually endangered? If so, how did this come about?
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was passed by congress in 1973 in hopes to preserve vulnerable and endangered species by determining their standing and then providing for their recovery. Though some acts had been passed before, they were not really accomplishing anything so President Richard Nixon declared current species conservation efforts not to be doing enough and called on the 93rd United States Congress to pass comprehensive endangered species legislation.



The first article I looked at was from National Geographic, obviously a trusted news reporter, their slogan is even, “REPORTING YOUR WORLD DAILY.” The very first paragraph is strategically placed (like the majority of the mass media) and says “A northern spotted owl swoops down silently from its roost high in a mammoth redwood tree, zeroing in on the unsuspecting rodent below. It is a rare sight. Despite their 1990 listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), these once-abundant nighttime raptors—a necessary check in the balance of these Pacific Northwest forests—are becoming ever scarcer.” A reader can’t help but conjure up an image when reading this paragraph and feel some kind of emotion.



According to an assessment done by a wildlife biologist, “spotted owl populations have dropped by roughly half in Oregon's Warm Springs Reservation and parts of Washington—and by almost a quarter along parts of the Oregon coast and Cascade Mountains.” Loss and division of the owls' old-growth forest home was one of the reasons for it being listed on the ESA. For the last two centuries, approximately 80 percent of old growth forests have been logged from Northern California to British Columbia.



The media holds a lot of power simply due to the fact the majority of the public is surrounded and sees or hears something every day. According to Dunwoody, experiences matter more than data. So even though we might hear about an endangered spotted owl one day, unless we live in or near a forest, we most likely are not going to think of it as a pressing issue, or even a long term one.



In 2008 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a new recovery plan and reduced the amount of forest land voted as significant to the owl's recovery. The 30-year plan is projected to cost $489.2 million. The plan identifies barred owls as a primary threat to spotted-owl survival, and eases restrictions on logging in some areas. No one knows for sure what the future holds for the owl but we can all do our parts by not logging.
By Brynne